Acer Aspire A315-42-R7DT bad battery life and slow m.2 speeds

Rastoder001
Rastoder001 Member Posts: 2 New User
edited May 2022 in Aspire Laptops
Hello, I have an Acer Aspire A315-42-R7DT laptop that has a Ryzen 3500u CPU and the Vega 8 iGPU. I had it for over a year, and in that time i have added 4GB of ram and a SATA SSD. 
Im having some problems with it. One is battery life and the other is the nvme slot.

First for the battery life problem. I had it for a long time (might even from the begining, im not sure), the laptop lasts only over around 1:15h playing youtube videos. I know that the problem could be caused by a bad battery but no way its gone that bad while im using it almost always on the charger and just sometimes only on battery. I downloaded some aplications and it says the battery has 27.8% of wear (i have no idea how because im mostly using it on the charger). I have tried many things but the laptop just doesnt last even close to the 6h other people manage to get.

For the m.2 nvme slot the problem is that in HWiNFO it says that the m.2 slot is gen3 x4 but my m.2 ssd runs at gen3 x2 speeds. I tried a gen3 x4 ssd but it was running at gen1.1 x2 speeds. After i updated the bios to the latest version the new m.2 ssd works at gen3 x2 speeds but not at the maximum x4. How can i force it to work at x4 speeds?

[​//Edited the content to add model name]

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,080 Trailblazer
    edited May 2022
    Rastoder001 said:
    Hello, I have an Acer Aspire 3 laptop (SNID = 03008980534) that has a Ryzen 3500u CPU and the Vega 8 iGPU. I had it for over a year, and in that time i have added 4GB of ram and a SATA SSD. 
    Im having some problems with it. One is battery life and the other is the nvme slot.

    First for the battery life problem. I had it for a long time (might even from the begining, im not sure), the laptop lasts only over around 1:15h playing youtube videos. I know that the problem could be caused by a bad battery but no way its gone that bad while im using it almost always on the charger and just sometimes only on battery. I downloaded some aplications and it says the battery has 27.8% of wear (i have no idea how because im mostly using it on the charger). I have tried many things but the laptop just doesnt last even close to the 6h other people manage to get.

    For the m.2 nvme slot the problem is that in HWiNFO it says that the m.2 slot is gen3 x4 but my m.2 ssd runs at gen3 x2 speeds. I tried a gen3 x4 ssd but it was running at gen1.1 x2 speeds. After i updated the bios to the latest version the new m.2 ssd works at gen3 x2 speeds but not at the maximum x4. How can i force it to work at x4 speeds?

    The Aspire A315-42 M.2 OEM interface is PCIe Gen.3x2 its not PCIe Gen.3x4, where did you get those specs from? As an M.2 drive with PCIe Gen.3x4 specs will always work at PCIe Gen.3x2 speeds, that is the A315-42's specs and you can’t change them with a faster M.2 drive, see the Acer OEM M.2 drives recommended caption below but, the 512GB is not the highest  capacities that you can have but it has to be of the same specs as fitting an M.2 PCIe Gen.3x4 is just a waste of money.

    With the battery and especially an old battery that was charged into mains most of its life getting around 1:15h battery life is normal, a battery needs to be constantly drained completely and then recharged fully and periodically for the battery to maintain its lifespan functionality as batteries don’t last forever.  The A315-42 has 5 Acer OEM recommended batteries and the highest mAh is the “LGC AP18C Polymer 3S1P LGC 3 cell 4343mAh Main COMMON” Acer part #: KT.0030G.020 so and if your OEM battery is on the way out then replace it with the LG battery.

    Acer OEM M,2 drives for the A315-42



    Acer OEM baterries for the A315-42

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Lithium ion batteries generally lose 10-20% capacity per year no matter how they're used or not used, plugged in all the time or just sitting on a shelf.

    You can generally increase battery charge life by (1) uninstalling any non-Microsoft virus scanners (2) Reduce screen brightness to 50% or lower (3) Use a browser like FireFox instead of Chrome or Edge. (4) Set the power plan to Microsoft balanced or power saver mode if  available.

    Just to add that GPUz & HWInfo freebies are often wrong on number of PCIe buss lanes. Most mid-range laptops are compatible with garden variety m.2 SATA3 & NVME cards but the latter usually only freebie benchmark at less than twice SATA3 speeds. In real world applications, you won't notice too much difference between m.2 SATA3 and m.2 NVME cards so freebie benchmark values, like CPUz and HWInfo freebie probes, don't mean too much. Don't fret too mcuh over it.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Rastoder001
    Rastoder001 Member Posts: 2 New User
    StevenGen said:
    Rastoder001 said:
    Hello, I have an Acer Aspire 3 laptop (SNID = 03008980534) that has a Ryzen 3500u CPU and the Vega 8 iGPU. I had it for over a year, and in that time i have added 4GB of ram and a SATA SSD. 
    Im having some problems with it. One is battery life and the other is the nvme slot.

    First for the battery life problem. I had it for a long time (might even from the begining, im not sure), the laptop lasts only over around 1:15h playing youtube videos. I know that the problem could be caused by a bad battery but no way its gone that bad while im using it almost always on the charger and just sometimes only on battery. I downloaded some aplications and it says the battery has 27.8% of wear (i have no idea how because im mostly using it on the charger). I have tried many things but the laptop just doesnt last even close to the 6h other people manage to get.

    For the m.2 nvme slot the problem is that in HWiNFO it says that the m.2 slot is gen3 x4 but my m.2 ssd runs at gen3 x2 speeds. I tried a gen3 x4 ssd but it was running at gen1.1 x2 speeds. After i updated the bios to the latest version the new m.2 ssd works at gen3 x2 speeds but not at the maximum x4. How can i force it to work at x4 speeds?

    The Aspire A315-42 M.2 OEM interface is PCIe Gen.3x2 its not PCIe Gen.3x4, where did you get those specs from? As an M.2 drive with PCIe Gen.3x4 specs will always work at PCIe Gen.3x2 speeds, that is the A315-42's specs and you can’t change them with a faster M.2 drive, see the Acer OEM M.2 drives recommended caption below but, the 512GB is not the highest  capacities that you can have but it has to be of the same specs as fitting an M.2 PCIe Gen.3x4 is just a waste of money.

    With the battery and especially an old battery that was charged into mains most of its life getting around 1:15h battery life is normal, a battery needs to be constantly drained completely and then recharged fully and periodically for the battery to maintain its lifespan functionality as batteries don’t last forever.  The A315-42 has 5 Acer OEM recommended batteries and the highest mAh is the “LGC AP18C Polymer 3S1P LGC 3 cell 4343mAh Main COMMON” Acer part #: KT.0030G.020 so and if your OEM battery is on the way out then replace it with the LG battery.

    Acer OEM M,2 drives for the A315-42



    Acer OEM baterries for the A315-42


    Thanks for all the help. I thought this laptop supported gen3 x4 speeds cause all aplications said it does (here is an image from HWiNFO 
    https://imgur.com/Ea4WPMW), well thats kinda disappointing :/.

    And also thanks about the battery suggestions, im for sure gonna go with the LGC one if this battery degrades even more. Also is there a way i can callibrate the battery or do something to it to increase its life a bit? Cause even if its 28% degraded it should last longer than 1:15h, but not sure tho.

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